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Dr. Charlie Richart of the University of Kansas Hospital used a blood substitute called Hemopure to treat internal hemorrhaging due to bleeding polyps in a man who could not receive a blood transfusion. The FDA granted a special compassionate care dispensation for treatment with the hemoglobin-based oxygen carrier. The patient's life was at risk in the case, Richart said.

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Researchers at the University of Essex are developing an artificial blood that could be stored at room temperature and used to treat all patients. The Haem02 project's goal is an artificial hemoglobin-based oxygen carrier that could replace blood lost in surgery or trauma. The team says the product may eliminate the risk of complications because it can be cleared naturally by the body's defenses.

Scientists at the Charité Medical University in Berlin created 700-nanometer particles of bovine hemoglobin coated with human serum albumin to serve as oxygen carriers and potential blood substitutes that do not cause blood vessels to contract. In tests involving mouse kidney arterioles, the hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers were found to trigger much less vasoconstriction than hemoglobin alone. The team is preparing for live animal trials.

Fragments of DNA from three mammoths that died in Siberia thousands of years ago have been used to develop hemoglobin that is better at delivering oxygen at low temperature than that of humans and Asian elephants. The finding could pave the way for the development of hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers for use in surgical procedures involving induced hypothermia.

Health care experts are debating whether a study involving the hemoglobin-based blood substitute PolyHeme was ethical and whether the results show it to be a viable option for badly bleeding trauma patients. In Kentucky, 17 people received PolyHeme without their consent under an FDA exemption, and four died. Investigators say the overall study, of which the University of Kentucky was just one site participant, shows the promise of PolyHeme, but critics question the results and say the treatment only puts patients at higher risk of death.

Biopure Corp. plans to present a protocol for a Phase II randomized trial of its Hemopure blood-substitute product for the treatment of autoimmune hemolytic anemia as part of its response to FDA recommendations. Hemopure has been used on a compassionate use basis.